''A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay'' is an

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

painting by Irish artist William Orpen, completed in 1919. It was one of the paintings commissioned from Orpen to commemorate the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

in 1919. The work is held by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London.

Background

Orpen was one of the first people chosen as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information in 1917. Orpen was also official painter at the peace conference, and was commissioned to paint three canvases to record the roles of the politicians, diplomats and military at the conference. The work is a group portrait depicting preliminary discussions of the "Council of Ten", comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Conference delegates are depicted sitting and standing around a table in the Hall of Clocks at the French

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, where the conference was formally opened on 18 January 1919. The politicians and diplomats are overshadowed by the decorated room, with chandeliers, lavish gilded cornice, and a statue of Victory above an ornate fireplace. It measures

Subjects

The people depicted are: Seated, from left to right: * Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, former Prime Minister of Italy * Robert Lansing, US Secretary of State * Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, holding papers * Georges Clemenceau,

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

* David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister *

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...

, British

Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...

(and later Prime Minister) * Arthur Balfour, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and former British Prime Minister Standing behind, from left to right: * Paul Hymans, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs *

Eleftherios Venizelos Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos ( el, Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, translit=Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movem ...

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ� ...

* Emir Feisal, from Syria (later King of Syria and then

King of Iraq The king of Iraq ( ar, ملك العراق, ''Malik al-‘Irāq'') was Iraq's head of state and monarch from 1921 to 1958. He served as the head of the Iraqi monarchy—the Hashemite dynasty. The king was addressed as His Majesty (صاحب ال� ...

) * William Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand * General Jan Smuts,

Prime Minister of South Africa The prime minister of South Africa ( af, Eerste Minister van Suid-Afrika) was the head of government in South Africa between 1910 and 1984. History of the office The position of Prime Minister was established in 1910, when the Union of Sout ...

* Colonel

Edward M. House Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known as Colonel House, although his rank was honorary and he had performed no military service. He was a highl ...

behind Wilson * General Louis Botha, former

* Marquis Saionji Kinmochi, '' genrō'' and former Prime Minister of Japan *

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

* Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada * George Nicoll Barnes, British

Minister Without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

representing Organised Labour * Ignace Paderewski, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs

Other paintings

Orpen's other paintings of the conference depict the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty in the Hall of Mirrors at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

, and another showing a coffin lying in state in a marble hall covered by a Union Flag. File:To the Unknown British Soldier in France Art.IWMART4438.jpg, ''

To the Unknown British Soldier in France ''To the Unknown British Soldier in France'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by Irish artist Sir William Orpen, exhibited in one state in 1923 and then modified in 1927. It was one of three paintings commissioned from Orpen to commemorate the Pea ...

'' File:Orpen, William (Sir) (RA) - The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919''

External links

''A Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay''
Imperial War Museum
''The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919''
Imperial War Museum
''Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations''
John Milton Cooper, Cambridge University Press, 2001, , p. 412
''The Treaty of Versailles, 1919: A Primary Source Examination of the Treaty that Ended World War I''
Corona Brezina, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005, , p. 24 {{DEFAULTSORT:Peace Conference at the Quai d'Orsay, A 1919 paintings War paintings Treaty of Versailles Paintings in the Imperial War Museum Paintings by William Orpen Group portraits 20th-century portraits Portraits of men Portraits of politicians Cultural depictions of Woodrow Wilson Cultural depictions of David Lloyd George Bonar Law Jan Smuts Eleftherios Venizelos Arthur Balfour